That suspicious noise was #6 exhaust lifter self-destructing. It looks like it just powdered the needle bearings in the roller - thats gotta be some unreal stress and pressure to do that. So far, thats the only issue I've found, but I haven't yet pulled the rest of the lifters from the block. Still pulling the blower and intake, etc. For certain the cam has to come out for polish. I'm hoping that one failed roller lifter and a cam polish is the extent of the damage. We'll see.

This is the first time I've used them. Combo track and street use. It's likely I caused this though, or at least contributed to the problem - blipping the throttle pretty hard off idle, that has to have been when the lifter started to fail, under that immediate and extreme ramp pressure and rpm spike. I didn't actually hear it until sometime later, when the dang thing was chewing up the remaining needles in the roller. Rob warned me about this and like an idiot I didn't pay any attention. You'd think these higher end rollers would stand up to anything you do with the motor, but I guess everything has a limit.

I haven't gotten a real clear view of the cam lobe yet, just with my remote video scope - it looks like it might be ok with just a polish, but I'll know more when I get it out on the bench.

John_Heard wrote:I've had good luck so far with the Crower Hippo's in mine. I've heard mixed things about the solid wheel lifters, not really sure what the general consensus is on those right now?

Two sources recommended the Isky EZ-Roll bushed solid rollers - a buddy running two big-cube, 8 second Mopars (spinning both up into the high 9K rpm range) and the local motor builder I work with here in Sacramento (Rex Hutchison). They both avoid needle roller lifters because of the failure rate they've seen and both recommend the Isky setup. The going price I've found for the Red Zone EZ-Roll bushed lifters is around $950 for the set - that was the OMG in my last post.

So I'm not yet sure what to do with this issue. My original intent was to pull and polish the cam and replace the one failed lifter but now I'm hearing that there's no way to tell if any of the other (now) used lifters are marginal. Yippie.

If this were strictly a track motor my use of the Comp Endure-X needle rollers would likely have been ok. However, with the extended wear and stress I put on them running both street and track I guess I'll have to expect this sort of event to occur. My problem now is what I stuff back in the motor. I don't want to drop another $1500 in the motor (new lifters + pushrods) but I also don't want to be here again in 3 or 6 or 8 months down the road with the same problem.

IMO your better off with the needle bearing lifters for the street. In rotorcraft we do not use bushing type bearings do to wear. Everything we use is needle or roller for reliability and longevity. Harry, I think the lower priced needle bear lifters will work just fine. Now with that said, driving on the street with a solid cam motor like you do means you need to check the your valves every 100 miles or every 2 weeks what ever comes first. Solid roller lifters are not ment to bounce off of the cam. You now see what happens when they do.
Now quit crying about it, it's just a broke camaro!